Geometries and Symmetries of Soliton equations and Integrable Elliptic equations

Abstract

We give a review of the systematic construction of hierarchies of soliton flows and integrable elliptic equations associated to a complex semi-simple Lie algebra and finite order automorphisms. For example, the non-linear Schr\"odinger equation, the n-wave equation, and the sigma-model are soliton flows; and the equation for harmonic maps from the plane to a compact Lie group, for primitive maps from the plane to a $k$-symmetric space, and constant mean curvature surfaces and isothermic surfaces in space forms are integrable elliptic systems. We also give a survey of (i) construction of solutions using loop group factorizations, (ii) PDEs in differential geometry that are soliton equations or elliptic integrable systems, (iii) similarities and differences of soliton equations and integrable elliptic systems.